Chromatographic and electrophoretic methods for analysis of superoxide dismutases

Botanical characteristics, phytochemistry and related biological activities of Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit, and its potential use in functional foods: a review

Due to the growing global population, reduction in arable land and effects of climate change, incongruity between food supply and demand has become increasingly severe. Nowadays, with awareness of the elementary nutrients required for human growth, increasing attention is being paid to the health and medical functions of food. Along with increased food production achieved by modern agricultural techniques, underutilised functional foods are an important strategy for solving food security problems and maintaining the nutritional quality of the human diet. Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is a natural fruit that contains unique functional and nutritional constituents, which are characterised by a high anti-oxidant potential. This review summarises the biological characteristics, chemical composition, health-promoting properties and development status of RRT products to inspire investigations on the use of RRT fruit as a functional food, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical additive. The nutrients and functional ingredients of RRT fruit are described in detail to provide more reference information for nutritionists and pharmacists.

The presence of SOD 1 and GSH-Px in bovine retained and properly released foetal membranes

The maintenance of antioxidative/oxidative balance is crucial for cellular and extracellular environment. That is why antioxidative enzymes express their activity in different isoforms in different cell compartments and extracellular space. The aim of study was to verify the results of previous experiment on activities of antioxidative enzymes by the determination of their enzymatic proteins in bovine placental tissues by Western blotting technique. Moreover, the presence of particular isoenzymes was detected and differentiated. Homogenates of maternal and foetal part of both properly released and retained bovine placenta were subjected to PAGE electrophoresis in non-reducing and reducing conditions and Western blotting with appropriate antibodies against superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). Electrophoresis allowed for the detection of protein bands of molecular weight related to CuZn-SOD as well as cGSH-Px isoenzymes. The reaction with appropriate antibodies confirmed this. Densitometric analysis, although semi-quantitative, allowed for the observation of trends in differences in antioxidative enzyme proteins, which may partly confirm previously described results in cases of retained and released placenta. Local antioxidative enzymatic mechanisms in bovine placental tissues are represented by CuZn-SOD and cGSH-Px, which show the changes in their expression during improper placental release.

Human plasma copper proteins speciation by size exclusion chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Solutions for columns calibration by sulfur detection

Among the hyphenated techniques used to probe and identify metalloproteins, size exclusion chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SEC-ICP-MS) has shown to have a central place. However, the calibration of SEC columns reveals to be tedious and always involves UV detection prior to ICP-MS. The presence of sulfur in 98% of proteins allows their detection by quadrupole ICP-MS, despite the isobaric interference ((16)O(16)O) on S, by monitoring (32)S(16)O at mass to charge ratio (m/z) 48. The formation of SO occurs spontaneously in the argon plasma but can be optimized by the introduction of oxygen gas into a reaction cell (RC) to achieve nM levels. In this article, sulfur detection was discussed upon instrumental conditions and S detection was then optimized by applying O(2) as a reaction gas. SO formation was used to calibrate SEC columns without UV detection. This simple SEC-ICP-MS method was used for plasma copper proteins in plasma healthy subjects (HS) and an untreated Wilson disease (WD) patient. Copper proteins identified in healthy subjects were transcuprein, ceruloplasmin (Cp) and albumin. The method led to results in good agreement with other methods of determination. Copper bound to Cp in the WD patient was lowered with regard to the HS, and the exchangeable Cu was highly increased.

Effects of some drugs on purified human erythrocyte CuZnSOD andin vitroinhibitiory effect of 5-fluorouracil on leukocyte total SOD activity

The inhibition and activation effects of some drugs on the activities of superoxide dismutase enzymes (SOD) in human erythrocyte and leukocyte cells was investigated. Firstly, CuZnSOD enzyme was purified 837-fold and 12% efficiency from human erythrocytes by ethanol-chloroform treatment to remove hemoglobin and then ion exchange chromatography (DEAE-Sepharose) and copper chelate affinity chromatography techniques. Inhibition or activation effects of fourteen drugs on CuZnSOD was investigated. None of the studied drugs except for 5-fluorouracil showed any effects on the enzyme. 5-fluorouracil showed activation effects on CuZnSOD at 3.33mg/ml and 4mg/ml concentrations with 33% and 32% activation, respectively. Leukocytes were isolated from healthy human blood, lysed in liquid nitrogen and the effect of 5-fluorouracil on the lysate SOD activity investigated. 5-Fluorouracil showed inhibition effects on total SOD activity of human leukocytes at 2 mg/ml and 4 mg/ml concentrations with 42% and 62% inhibition, respectively.

Differential pattern of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase isoforms in relation to tidal spatio-temporal changes in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis

Inducible antioxidant defences in marine organisms such as mussel bivalves are commonly used as biomarkers of pollutant-induced oxidative stress and their variations proposed as one of the biological effect measurements for assessment of contamination impact in aquatic environments. Among them, the copper/zinc superoxide dismutases (Cu/Zn-SODs) are metalloenzymes which play a key role in the protection of cells in case of oxidative stress. In order to observe possible variations of an antioxidant response in relation to tidal oscillations, the copper/zinc superoxide dismutase activity (Cu/Zn-SOD) was characterized in the digestive gland and gills of blue mussels sampled at high and low shore throughout the tidal cycle. Determination of SOD activity was performed on gels after isoelectro-focusing, allowing the revelation of three isoforms. In both tissues, high-shore mussels exhibited a higher level of total SOD activity than low-shore mussels. During emersion, a decrease of total SOD activity appeared in digestive gland for both groups. In high-shore mussels, the less acidic form contributed to 75% of the total activity, the second one to 20% and the more acidic one to 5% in both tissues before air exposure. During emersion, the relative contribution of the three isoforms to the total activity was markedly changed with a significant decrease in intensity of the first isoform and parallel increases in the two other ones. After re-immersion a progressive recovery of proportions of SOD isoforms was observed. In low-shore mussels, the relative contribution of the three isoforms to the total SOD activity showed similar changes. The observed variations could correspond to changes in the redox status of the mussels during tidal oscillations.

Speciation and toxicological relevance of manganese in humans

Although manganese is an essential trace element, concerns are rising about the Mn exposure of humans being related to neurotoxic effects. This review summarizes several aspects of this topic to provide updated information on Mn related investigations, including chemical speciation of Mn-compounds. The paper starts with some chemical aspects of Mn and its compounds, enlightening oxidation states in general and in biological matrices. This is followed by considerations on natural sources of human exposure, on occupational sources and on anthropogenically caused environmental sources, for example from the use of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). Next, the paper deals with Mn levels in the human organism, showing normal Mn concentrations in various tissues or body fluids, and continues with the toxicology of Mn, i.e. absorption, distribution and excretion. Of specific concern is the transfer of Mn to the brain which is the relevant neurotoxic target. In this context, parallels and differences between primary and Mn-dependent Parkinsonism are discussed, concluding with a risk assessment and a consideration of susceptible groups. The main part of this review focuses on recent investigations on Mn speciation. Analytical problems and their solutions are also described for correct identification of relevant Mn-compounds in matrices of human origin. Finally, future needs are discussed, such as further investigations on those Mn-species which may overcome neural barrier control, on disease-modulated barrier control, on susceptibility to certain Mn-species, and on the interaction of Mn with Fe-homeostasis in the brain.

Characterization of an inducible isoform of the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis

Aerobic organisms are protected against oxidative stress by antioxidant systems which mobilise enzymes such as the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) which transfers O2(.-) to H2O2. In this paper, we report the characterization of three isoforms of Cu/Zn-SOD in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis and we show that one of these isoforms is strongly inducible. Cytosolic extracts of digestive gland and gills from adult blue mussels were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or isoelectric focusing followed by in situ staining for SOD activity. Two main bands of Cu/Zn-SOD were obtained at pI 4.7 and 4.6 corresponding to native apparent molecular weight values of 205 and 155 kDa. Blue mussels from chemically contaminated area in Le Havre harbour exhibited a third Cu/Zn-SOD isoform characterized by a more acidic isoelectric point (pI 4.55) and a native apparent molecular weight of 130 kDa. When maintained in clean marine water, mussels from this area showed a transitory decrease in total SOD activity accompanied by the disappearance of the SOD-3 band. Conversely, the exposure (4 and 8 h, and 3 and 7 days) of control blue mussels to copper (25 microg l(-1)) markedly increased SOD-3 band while the total SOD activity did not systematically change. Taken together our results suggest that the variations of SOD expression pattern in Mytihus edulis could be used as a tool for the marine environment monitoring.

Bioinformatics, functional genomics, and proteomics study of Bacillus sp

The ability of bioinformatics to characterize genomic and proteomic sequences from bacteria Bacillus sp. for prediction of genes and proteins has been evaluated. Genomics coupling with proteomics, which is relied on integration of the significant advances recently achieved in two-dimensional (2-D) electrophoretic separation of proteins and mass spectrometry (MS), are now important and high throughput techniques for qualifying and analyzing gene and protein expression, discovering new gene or protein products, and understanding of gene and protein functions including post-genomic study. In addition, the bioinformatics of Bacillus sp. is embraced into many databases that will facilitate to rapidly search the information of Bacillus sp. in both genomics and proteomics. It is also possible to highlight sites for post-translational modifications based on the specific protein sequence motifs that play important roles in the structure, activity and compartmentalization of proteins. Moreover, the secreted proteins from Bacillus sp. are interesting and widely used in many applications especially biomedical applications that are the highly advantages for their potential therapeutic values.

Identification of a neutrophil chemotactic factor from Tritrichomonas foetus as superoxide dismutase

Antibodies to a neutrophil chemotactic factor from Tritrichomonas foetus were used to screen a T. foetus cDNA expression library in lambda gt11. All positive clones were identified as homologs of iron-containing superoxide dismutase (SOD). Native gel electrophoresis showed that the antibodies indeed recognized T. foetus antigens with SOD activity. Two SOD genes were found in T. foetus, and cloned and sequenced as parts of larger genomic segments of 3844 and 4089 base pairs. Transcription initiated between the first and second methionine codons of each genomic open reading frame, generating mRNAs with 5' untranslated regions of 11-15 bases, and encoding proteins of 195 amino acids. The two SOD coding sequences lacked obvious introns. They were 79% identical at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels. Both SOD genes were inserted into a eukaryotic expression vector and stably expressed in mammalian cells; both proteins were recognized by the antibodies, and both assumed a cytosolic, extranuclear distribution in these cells. Histidine-tagged forms of both T. foetus SODs were expressed in E. coli and after purification, found to have neutrophil chemotactic activity similar to the non-recombinant factor purified from T. foetus. Identification of this neutrophil chemotactic factor as SOD provides additional insight into the host-parasite interaction.